Arizona News

Doctor Says Lines Placed In Joseph Wood Correctly

Florence, AZ, (AP) - The doctor who performed the autopsy on an Arizona death-row inmate whose execution was prolonged says the intravenous lines were placed correctly.

Incorrect placement of lines can inject drugs into soft tissue instead of the blood stream, but Dr. Gregory Hess of the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office says the drugs went into Joseph Wood's veins.

Wood on Wednesday gasped and snorted more than 600 times over more than an hour and a half before he was pronounced dead.

Hess told the Arizona Capitol Times on Friday that he is waiting for the toxicology report before determining the cause of death.

But he says he'll certify the outcome as death by lethal injection if there's nothing unusual about the drugs in Wood's system.

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